Popular UK Sports File-Sharing Site Shuttered

By David Vranicar
Apr 22, 2014 10:35 AM PT

The Sports Torrent Network, a brazenly named file-sharing site, shut down after UK police threatened to put its operators behind bars for up to 10 years.

TSTN was a hotbed for illicit broadcasts of European soccer, the National Hockey League, Formula 1 races and more. The site reportedly had about 20,000 members, making it, in the words of Torrent Freak, "possibly the largest site of its type."

TSTN did not itself host pirated content but instead facilitated users' quests to find said content on peer-to-peer networks.

Last year, the City of London Police launched the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit, which acts on tips from industry groups to take down sites like TSTN.

Eastern Europe Flexing Its Cyberespionage Muscle

Groups and governments from Eastern European countries -- particularly Russian-speaking countries -- accounted for a substantial chunk of cases of cyberespionage in 2013, according to Verizon's annual Data Breach Investigation Report.

China and other East Asian countries deserve their due: They were still responsible for 49 percent of intrusions that were traced back to a country. The Eastern Europe bloc, however, is suspected of launching 21 percent of breaches. One-quarter of spying incidents are not linked to attackers from any country.

For those wondering about where the U.S. and NSA fit into all of this: Verizon's report drew more than half of its data from victims inside the U.S., so a report from, say, a Chinese communications company might look a little different.

Xiaomi Simplifies Domain, Drops Some Vowels

Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi is catering to international consumers by simplifying its website domain.

Instead of using the entire quirky, vowel-intensive word "Xiaomi," the company will simply go with
mi.com. (Indeed, xiaomi.com now redirects to mi.com.)

The new domain is "more accessible to an international audience," the company said, adding that it will help bolster the "Mi" brand -- "Mobile Internet."

Xiaomi has launched services in Singapore, and plans to introduce devices in other Southeast Asia markets. The company also has been unabashed about its plans to get into the Indian and Latin American markets.